Page 1 - pen or pencil?

First blog for my new class, GSP-475 (Emerging technology). For this class, I was assigned to work on a project which contain one of the following:
(a) a touch screen application
(b) a sensor-based device
(c) a video game level using off-the-shelf development tools
(d) a PowerPoint presentation describing the evolution of one of the newer entertainment or technology forms.

Although I once was into electronics, and pretty good at it too, I've chosen to go software due to it being obsessively on my mind while electronics was more of a hobby (cuts out option b). D didn't make much sense till I saw the course project info on the class's page. It involved Second-life or another online community of sort, and I'm not a fan of those (cuts out option D).

Which leaves options A and C...which I figured "why not merge both, make a touch-based game for the phone". Sure, I've done such in the past, but those were games with touch, not a touch based game with a game added.....yea, that probably sounds confusing.
Anyway, after talking with the teacher about some ideas for this project, one was settled on. And in case this blog's url address didn't make enough sense, the chosen game will involve water and touch.


Premise:
The user (or user and friends) touch the screen for the main interaction. Everywhere there is a touch, a little jet of water will come from the touched point and flow into 3D space. To add more sense of realism, the water will take in effect of the phone's gyroscope. So regardless of what direction the phone is in, the water will fall downward (except when told to flow another way, more details later on that).
In the settings, each touch point will have it's own settings. Color, gravity effect, splash effect, drop shape/ size, emission count (how much water to emit every second), air friction, nozzle size, and emission force (how fast to shoot the water out).
After getting the initial settings worked out, I might try adding global effects. Blur, time-lapse blur, time-z blur (old frames are pushed away from the screen and blurred), or blur horizontally/ vertically (each dot, not the world).


How it will be done:
All great ideas sound great on paper, but useless if they can't be implemented. So my timeline/ goals to create this app/ game...game, which will include the following (most likely in this order):
- create a particle which can represent all the needed features (x/y, velocity, color)
- a particle system to create the particles, move them, and change color (if set to do so)
- apply the phone's gravity to the particles
- create a menu to change the settings (this would be a nice time to try out the new "Holo" theme which Android is raving about)
- create "user" settings for each touch (max number of  "users" = max touches the screen can support, sounds convenient enough)

After these have been done and there is still time, then post-effects will be coded.


What has been done:
- I created a particle class and particle system (made from the basis of my previous game. Not exactly


What is being done now:
- Figuring out what engine to use. I've tried to write my own engine before, I suck at it. My options are: JPCT-AE (which was used in my previous game) ,a new engine (3D based), or a new engine (2D based and fake 3D). Most likely I'll try to stay with true 3D, less complex coding in the long run.